1. Field of Invention
The invention is in the technical field of crop protection compositions which can be used simultaneously against harmful plants and animal pests such as insects/spider mites, for example in crop plants, and comprise, as active compounds, a combination of at least one insecticide/acaricide and at least one herbicide and, if appropriate, additionally crop plant compatibility-increasing substances (safeners).
2. Descrition of Related Art
The Co-application of glyphosate plus an insecticide (e.g. Spirotetramat) or fungicides in glyphosate-resistant soybean has been described in Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2012), 92(2), 297-302. Glyphosate tankmixed with e.g. Spirotetramat has no adverse effect on weed control in glyphosate resistant soybean.
WO 98/05638 describes tetramic acid derivatives, their preparation and their use as insecticides/acaricides. The corresponding cis-isomers are described in WO 04/007448.
From WO 07/068428, it is known that the insecticidal/acaricidal activities of tetramic acid derivatives can be improved by adding adjuvants. Also known are the effects of herbicidally active tetramic acid derivatives in combination with other herbicides, for example from WO 06/024411 and WO 09/007014.
The activity of these insecticides/acaricides against animal pests in the crop plants is on a high level; however, it generally depends on the application rate, the formulation in question, the respective animal pests to be controlled, the climatic and soil conditions, etc. A further criterium is the duration of action or the rate of degradation of the insecticide/acaricide. In general, however, there is always a need for methods achieving insecticidal/acaricidal action with a lower active compound application rate. A lower application rate reduces not only the amount of active compound required for application but generally also reduces the amount of formulation auxiliaries required. Both reduce economic expense and improve the ecological compatibility of the insecticide/acaricide treatment.
One way of improving the application profile of an insecticide/acaricide may be to combine the active compound with one or more herbicidally active compounds. However, the combined use of a plurality of active compounds, in particular when insecticides are used together with herbicides, does not infrequently lead to phenomena of physical and biological imcompatibility, for example lacking stability of a coformulation, decomposition of an active compound or antagonism of the active compounds. In contrast, what is desired are combinations of active compounds and/or formulations thereof having a favourable activity profile, high stability and, ideally, synergistically enhanced activity, which permits a reduction of the application rate compared with the individual application of the active compounds to be combined. Likewise advantageous may be a broadening of the activity spectrum, an increased application flexibility and a faster onset of action.